I see they’re still closed down – but they have a perfectly logical explanation. It was just less confusing for all involved to reschedule their shows at other venues.

You can read this article in its entirety by clicking here. Otherwise I’ll leave you with yours truly’s favorite passage— with a little New York Shitty analysis thrown in for good measure!

Apologies for the confusion yesterday. Briefly: after you and I spoke we had a meeting at Coco’s and we all decided that since some shows were already moving to other venues this week, just because they were worried (rightfully so given your establishment saw fit to cram 400 people into a space allotted for 74, this can hardly be construed as “professional”), we would take this time now to take a couple days off and make some renovations to just kinda move forward and become a better venue with more space for people. So we are taking a couple days to do that. We were doing construction all night last night (I can personally attest to this. I can also attest that neither Coco66 nor Coco 68 have permits for any of the work they are doing.) , and all day today (more work without a permit, is the Department of Buildings reading this?), just in the back to have more space and do bigger and better shows (which we are not in fact legally entitled to conduct given we have neither a Cabaret License nor a Place of Assembly Permit*).

Miss Heather

*As someone in the know explained to me:

They absolutely don’t have a cab license. Must have zoning use group 12 on the CO and the description must read “eating and drinking establishment with no restrictions on entertainment.” Not even a PA. Hence the 74 max occupancy.

Since when are “luxury” condo developers allowed to erect a monstrosity like this in front of their crappy buildings for the rest of us to deal with? And this photo is on a good day when it’s not spilling over and out of the fence!

While arguably superior to the Viridian’s use of Bloomberg’s trees as trash repositories I too have to wonder about the legality of this set-up. Anyone out there have the 411 on whether or not this act of space piracy is legal? If so, please share via comments or email at: missheather (at) thatgreenpointblog (dot) com.

Those of you who have been wondering what is set to grace this store front will be happy to know today I got the scoop! It is going to be a coffee shop. The wisdom of open such an establishment a mere two doors away from Cafecito Bogota remains to be seen— but I wish them luck!

Actually it is more like an Op Ed. In any case it is WELL worth sharing! Em Two writes (in an email entitled A Quick Question):

Have you heard anything about the über-bright and hyper-tacky light on the Murano building in Long Island City (519 Borden Ave)?

This type of L.E.D. display appears to be an unfortunate trend that’s taking hold of developers in the area (there’s one in Greenpoint now as well) in order to grab people’s attention. I find it is akin to the FOX news approach: any attention is good attention so the louder and dumber you are the more you will sell. Inevitably a race to the bottom follows.

In any event, the building’s website states that “A computerized system lights the lobby walls and exterior of Murano in a different hue every hour on the hour, transforming the all-glass building into a glowing, sculptural wonder. Surrounded by a serene water feature, the Murano is a beacon of light, heralding new life, limitless possibility, and inspired living to those who like to color outside the lines.”

And to quote someone else, “that’s the sound of incredulous laughter being stifled.”

I’m afraid it is objectively not a sculptural wonder. Moreover, a clock it is certainly not. Instead, it changes every couple of minutes, sometimes rapidly, sometimes a little slower. Or perhaps they are using the new Martian minute. Most recently, it went into a scintillating series of optical seizures, displaying what can only be described as a stoned 14 year old playing with his “My First Strobe Light” kit and an Atari replica game bought from SkyMall. That stopped, for whatever reason, after about 24 hours.

And yes, I understand that progress and development are inevitable. This is not the former.

Indeed, when trying to find out what the name of this building was, I simply typed “big stupid light on building in LIC” into Google. Give it a try.

P.S. The Murano site also states:
The Murano [is] named after the famous Italian island known for its spectacular colored glass[.]

To answer Em Two’s question: yes, I have heard of the Murano. In fact I have walked by this edifice on numerous occasions. Other than that I honestly do not know what to say. Em Two has pretty much said it all!

I was supposed to swing by this very place today. Regrettably I had to decide against doing so: I simply did (and do) not feel up to it. Luckily my colleague over at Nathan Kensinger Photography has enabled me to go there without even having to leave my jammies. Do give this blog post (from which the image to the left hails) a read. It’s seriously good stuff!